| Summary: | The Ministry of Transportation and Highways (MOTH) of British Columbia has
initiated an upgrade program for its bridges. Among them is Oak Street Bridge, which
spans the Fraser River between Vancouver and Richmond.
The Ministry of Transportation and Highways of British Columbia decided to
supplement the seismic assessment of the Oak Street Bridge by large scale tests of the
bridge bents at the structures laboratories of the University of British Columbia. The
proposed tests consists of slow cyclic loading through increasing displacements. The test
series consists of five specimens of the Oak Street Bridge, with various retrofits and an as
built version, and one as built specimen representing the Queensborough Bridge. A test
setup to conduct the tests was designed and installed in the UBC structures laboratory.
Predictions of the response of the prototype and the test specimen were conducted
to establish a testing regime and loading sequence for the slow cyclic testing program.
Various analysis methods were used to assess the seismic performance of the as built
bridge bent. The first test, an as built model of the Oak Street Bridge bent, supplied the
data of the experimental response to compare to the analytical predictions, and gave some
further insight into the failure modes, and established the ultimate strengths.
The severe deficiencies in shear reinforcement in the cap beam of the bents made an
accurate prediction of the response of the bridge bent very difficult. The experimental
investigation resulted in much improved understanding of the seismic performance of this
very typical structural component of many bridge approaches in the Lower Mainland of
British Columbia. === Applied Science, Faculty of === Civil Engineering, Department of === Graduate
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